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Hunger Project and Concern Host Panel on Financing Community-Led Development at UN Conference

July 28, 2015

During the UN’s Third Financing for Development Conference (FfD3) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, The Hunger Project and Concern Worldwide co-hosted a side event on “Financing Community-led Development: Putting People First.” The event focused on how integrated strategies at the community level will be critical for capacity building and ensuring the inclusivity of all people, without distinction.

A variety of stakeholders from leading international organizations with expertise in integrated development strategies discussed why grassroots, systems-based programming will be critical in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and why multi-sectoral funding streams will ensure that they are carried out to their maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

Speakers included Tom Arnold from the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement; Beth Tritter, Vice President for Policy and Evaluation, Millennium Challenge Corporation; Orla O’Neill, Assistant Country Director-Programs, Concern Worldwide Ethiopia; Cheick Faysal, Official Youth Envoy for Post 2015, Burkina Faso and Youth Representative, Restless Development; and The Hunger Project Country Director of Ethiopia, Neguest Mekonnen.

The speakers discussed evidence from successful implementation of integrated, community-led development that places the most impoverish and disempowered people—especially women—at the center. They also underscored the need for Civil Society Organizations to play a role in establishing strong social accountability mechanisms and effective partnerships between citizens and local governments.

The side event underscored the larger conversation and goals of the conference, which provided the platform for world leaders to come together to spur development and to channel funds to fight poverty globally. An outcome document was produced at the end of the conference signed by 192 UN Member states. The document, called the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, outlines ways in which the international community can fund and actually implement a path toward sustainable development and the goal of eradicating extreme poverty.  Countries agreed to an array of measures aimed at widening the revenue base, improving tax collection, and combating tax evasion and illicit financial flows. Countries also reaffirmed their commitment to official development assistance, particularly for the least developed countries, and pledged to increase South-South cooperation.

“This agreement is a critical step forward in building a sustainable future for all. It provides a global framework for financing sustainable development,” said U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. “The results here in Addis Ababa give us the foundation of a revitalized global partnership for sustainable development that will leave no one behind.”

Learn More:

The Hunger Project Leads Panel on Community-Led Development